Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1887-09-14
How 10 TREAT COMPANY.
Discourse By the Rev. Dr.. Talmage At
the Hamptons.

n &.at
The Trials and Rewards OF Christian Hos
pitality-1ho Toll and Expense Of Excr
cising It-A Pretty Custom Among tn
Greeks.
THE HAMPToNs, Sept. 1.-THE Rev
DR.. T. De Witt Talmage's text to-day wal
from Romans xii, IL: "Given to hospital.
ity;" and his discourse was as follows:
There IL danger that the multiplication
of large and commodious hotels in oui
towns and cities and villages will utterly
exterminate that grace which Abraham ex-
hibited when he entertained the angels, and
which Lot showed when he watched fol
guests at the gate Of the city, and which
Christ recognized ms a positive requisite
for entering Heaven when He declared;
II was a stranger and ys took me in."
! propose TO speak this morning OF the
trials and rewards Of Christian hospitality.
The first trial often comes in the whim and
eccentricity Of the guest himself. There
are a great many excellent people who have
protuberances of disposition and sharp
edges of temperament, and unpliahility OF
character, which make them a positive
nuisance in any house whore they stay. On
short acquaintance they will begin to COM
mand the household affairs, order the nm
ployes 10 unusual services, keep unseason-
able hours, use narcotics in places offensive
to sensitive n~ostrils, put their feet at I'M
usual elevations, drop the ashes of their
Havana on costly tapestry, open bureaus
they ought never TO touch, and pry into
things they ought never 10 see, and become
impervious TO ronsing bells, and have all
the pecuiiarities of the gormandizer or the
dyspeptic, and make excavations from poor
| Sa.t,ptrv NTH ,,ny,u,.I ip1,alsr,ar1fg and in
a thousand ways afiiictthe household which
proposes TO take care of them. Added TO
all, they stay too long. They have no idea
when their welcome is WON oat, and they
would be unmoved even by The blessing
which my friend Gerrit Smith, the philan-
thropist, asked one morning at his break
fast table, on the day when he hoped that
the long pro,rac,ed guests would depart,
saying: 80 Lord, boss this provision and
onr friends who leave us To-day" Hut, my
friends, there are alterations to be put on
their side of the scale. Perhaps they have
not had the same refining Influences about
them IN early hfc That you have had. Per-
haps they have inherited eccentriciiics I'll at
they cannot help. Perhaps il is our duly,
by example, TO show them a better way.
Perhaps they ARE sent 20 hc o trial Tor the
development of your patience. Perhaps
they were 10 be intended as an Illustration
of the opposite OF whit You arc trying TO
inculcate in the minds of your chi dren.
Perhaps it is To make yonr nome the
brighter when they are gone. When onr
guests are CHEEKY and fascinating and ele-
CANT ii is very easy 10 entertain item; bnt
when we find in onr guests that which is
a~ntagonistic to our taste and sentiment, it
is a positive triumph when we car obey The
words OF my text. and DO "giycn TO hos
pitality."
Another trial in the using of this grace
Is in the toll and expense of exercising il.
In the w~ell-regnlated household ,hinss 10
smoothly, but now you have int roduced II
foreign element into the m~Gchinery, and
though you may stoutly declare that they
must take things as they find them, toe
Martha will break in. The uneovernabic
stove; the ruined dessert; the Joint that
proves to be uniuasticable; the delayed
marketing; the perpleNities of a caterer; the
difficulty of doing proper work, and yet
always being presentable. Though you
may say there shall be no care or anxiety.
there will be care and there viii be anxiety.
In 1894 the captain general provided "a very
grand entertainment, and among other
things he had n fountain in his gurden-a
fountain of strong drink. In it were four
hogsheads of brandy, eight h~ogsheads of
water, 25,0UO lemons, thirteen hun lred-
weight OF Lisbon sugar, five pounds of
grated nutmeg, 800 toasted biscuit, and a
boat built on purpose was placed in the
fountain and a boy iowed around it and
filled the cups OF the people who came
there to be supplied. Well, you say, that
was a luxurious entertainment, and of
course the man had no anxiety; but / have
to tell you that, though you had or pro-
pose an entertainment like that, you have
onytafv In tho arr fi,iap enrnau tho .1iyipa
reward. We were born 10 serve, and when
we serve others, We serve God. The ndsh
on that woman's cheek, as she bends Over
the hot stove, ia as sacred in Gods sight
as the flush on the cheek of one who, Oh a
hot day, breaches the Gospel. We may
serve God with plate, ana cutlery, and
broom, as certainly as we can serve him
with psalm book and liturgy. Margaret,
queen of Norway, and Sweden, and Dem
mark, had a royal cup Of ten lips, on which
were recorded The names of the guests who
had drank from this cup. And every
Christian woman has a royal cup, on which
are written all the names of those who have
ever been entertained by her in Christian
style--names not cut by human ingenuity,
but written by the hand Of a divine Jesus.
But. my friends, you are not to toll un-
necessarily. Though the fare be plain,
cheerful presidency of the table, aud clean
Illness of appointments will be good enough
for anybody that ever comes to your house.
John Howard was invited to the house of
q nobleman. He said: 81 will come on one
condition, and that is that you have moth
ing but potatoes on The table" The re-
QUESTION was complied with. Cyrus, King
of Persia, under the same circumstances,
prescribed that on the table there must be
nothing but bread. OF course, these were
extremes, but they are illustrations of the
fact that more depends upon the banquet
ers than upon tue banquet. | wan 10 lift
this idea of Christian entertainment out of
o positive bondage nto a glorious induce
ment. Every effort you put forth, and
every dollar you give 10 the entertainment
OF friend or foe, you give directly TO Christ.
Suppose it were announced that the Lord
Jesus Christ would come TO this place this
week, what woman in this house would not
be glad to wash for Him, or spread for
Him a bed, or bake bread for Him? There
was II of old who washed for Him, draw
ing the water from the we'll Of her own
tears. He is coming. He will be here to-
morrow. "Inasmuch as ye have done it
to one OF the least Of these, my brethren,
ye have done it TO me-" In picture CALLER
les We have often seen representations Of
Walter Scott aud his friends, or Washing
ton Irving with his associates; but all those
engravings will fade out, while through
everlasting ages, hanging luminous and
conspicuous, will be the pictures Of you
and your Christian guests.
You see we have passed out from the
trials into the rewards of Christian hos.
pitality; grand, glorious, and eternal. The
first reward of Christian hospitality is the
divine benediction. When my one at
tends TO this duty, Gods blessing comes
upon him. upon his companion, upon his
children, upon bis dining-hall, upon his
parlor, upon his nursery. The blessing
comes in at the front door, and the back
door, and down through the skylights.
God draws o long mark of credit for serv-
ices received. Christ said to His disciples:
that receiveth you, receiveth me; and
he that giveth a cup of cold water in the
name of a disciple shall in no wise lose
his reward" As we have had SO many
things recorded against us in Heaven, it /
will be a satisfaction to have written on
unfailing archives the fact that in the
month of May, or June, or September, or
v0ooar,1cr fk2- xua ocl. A. l1s,.f.1 ,~.n 4